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Converse Launches 'LGBTQ+' Shoe Line Featuring Child Drag Queen

BOSTON, Massachusetts, May 9, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) ― An 11-year-old drag performer known as Desmond-is-Amazing is now a model for a shoe company.

The Converse footwear company, once known for its fashionable high top basketball shoes, has announced a new “partnership” with Desmond Napoles and five other “individuals connected with the LGBTQ+ community” to market its new “Pride collection.”

The announcement accompanied a photograph of Desmond dressed in a colorful shoulder-baring outfit and heavy makeup, posing suggestively before the five other models, including a man dressed as a woman and two women dressed as boys.

Publishing the news on Twitter, Converse said, “We're happy to launch our Pride Collection, partnering with six individuals connected to the LGBTQ+ community who show the power of expressing one's true self. Contributions are supporting @ItGetsBetter@OutMetroWest & @FenwayHealth.

“It Gets Better” and “Out Metro West” are LBGT charities, and “Fenway Health” is a Boston medical organization specializing in the health of people with same-sex attractions and HIV/AIDS research. Converse is a Boston company, owned by Nike.

Many Twitter reactions to the announcement focused on the exploitation of 11-year-old Desmond, which some commentators linked to the exploitation of workers in Nike sweatshops.

“Now that's true equality: child abuse in the USA to match the child abuse in foreign Converse sweatshops. Nothing or no-one should stand in the way of corporate greed,” tweeted Down children advocate Renate Lindeman and linked to an Oxfam article about abuse of workers in a Converse factory in Indonesia.

“Congrats on enabling child abuse here in America to go along with the children making your crummy shoes in sweatshops overseas,” tweeted John Hawkins.

Tamara Pfanstiel tweeted: “What they are doing to that child is abuse. Children aren’t supposed to be ‘sexy.’ That disgusting. Get a grip.”...

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